Moron Island

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I was reading TimeOut magazine’s September issue, and I saw an article about the Cedar Island project. I had forgotten about it, when billboards reminded me of it again. In the article, the people intending to build the island were clear about how they don’t care about the environmental hazards that this project would cause. Even if Dubai built palm-shaped islands, we don’t have to do the same! We don’t NEED to do the same. Lebanon’s beauty is natural, and the issues we have are not a lack of touristic landmarks. I hope that this project will be resisted and will not take place. Otherwise I would believe it to be a major disfigurement to Lebanon. And that was the thought for today. Have a great day! 🙂

started a cause on FB when it first started, got in contact with few NGOs and deputies, it will never see the light, for political reasons/economical reasons/personal reasons (owner is apparently in deep “feces” in the UAE, trials and stuff).

Your comics have been making me smile ever since I was introduced to them… And you’re right, instead of building a Cedar island, they need to work on the essentials first.
If they cannot provide proper infrastructure to the current land mass, how can they provide electricity and water to an added piece of land?

I live in Dubai and I can understand why they need to make such things to attract people. But we have the most beautiful natural resorces and we are so much better than Dubai to copy it…
It’s the first time I wish a project in Lebanon to fail! what a stupid and copy paste idea!!!

agreed Maya, there are so many projects that can be done in Lebanon that can create thousands of jobs like you said for example public transportation.
Imagine they build a metro in beirut, that would create jobs for: contruction workers, contruction companies, engineers, architects, electricians, plumbers, computer scientists, graphic designers, maintenance technicians, security, cleaning technicians, mechanics, drivers and I am sure lots of others.
And that’s a metro in one city, imagine a metro in every city and all linked with trains. yes it can be done.
if people built cities in the desert they can do stuff in here too…

I always dreamt of building a lebanese underground metro . sounds crazy but hey why not..
As for the project, also don’t forget that this project and similarly to most beach resorts in lebanon is being built on public land…….
Welcome to Lebanon. I hope this project never sees the light, its ugly anyways 😉

[…] Moron Island « Maya’s Amalgam mayazankoul.wordpress.com/2009/09/24/moron-island – view page – cached I was reading TimeOut magazine’s September issue, and I saw an article about the Cedar Island project. I had forgotten about it, when billboards reminded me of it again. In the article, the people intending to build the island were clear about how they don’t care about the environmental hazards that this project would cause. Even if Dubai built palm-shaped islands, we don’t have to do the same! We don’t NEED to do the same. Lebanon’s beauty is natural, and the issues we have are not a lack of touristic landmarks. I hope that this project will be resisted and will not take place. Otherwise I would believe it to be a major disfigurement to Lebanon. And that was the thought for today. Have a great day! — From the page […]

Wissam, what darine meant was that li sou2 el 7azz, when people have projects in their minds they only think about khalijis buying our property, and yes no one would invest in a metro, know any Lebanese who does something only for the good sake of Lebanon?

A metro in Lebanon? i think it’s a wonderful idea, but can you imagine the traffic it will cause for the next 30 years (because every heavy construction in Lebanon takes x 5 because everyone wants to make money out of it, especially that the “mhandsin” engineers will not be Lebanese, just so you know.

hayda balad farit, if we sit there and just observe and criticize we might as well start promoting the cedar island (moron islan as Maya put it) ourselves

Not that I am saying anything new (the comments above say it all), but I have been jumping up and down all through your entry. I loathe this stupid project, I loathe it, loathe it, loathe it, and I loathe all that it stands for – a nouveau-riche aesthetic, the fact that it shows how our country is not designed for us, and most importantly, our incapability as citizens to get our say in this moral deformation we are subjected to -. It is a shame that I am finding myself here thanking God for the meltdown because it has frozen this project, because I know that otherwise I and all citizens concerned united can do nothing. Anyway, the meltdown will not be eternal, and the guy (he is so going to hell) will bribe his way out of whatever cases against him, and the thing will be back on track, just like the eradication of the Egg building in Downtown. My apologies for sounding pessimistic, but we are still a long way from turning into a first-world country (id est one designed for its tax-payers, not its money-launderers).

Attempts were made to stop the project and for a short periode of time people had hope that they would be heard, mainly because delays were not respected by the compagny responsible for the project and they were contemplating having their building license revoked. But no, they probably found a way around it. One of the problems with such an atrocity is the negative effect it will have on nature (the sea), but I guess whoever grant such luicenses doesn’t give a crap.

I totally agree with you Maya! This would be the worst possible thing ever! let them build a strong education structure, encure that people have access to health, electricity and water and *trivia* like that before they start creating a stupid Cedar Island that will pollute the sea for nothing. Besides, it’d be a way of reinforcing economical disparities, and frankly that’s the last thing Lebanon needs.

..Besides, we REALLY do not need more tourists. This country is FULL. It is enough for us to have a HOLIDAY for it to take us 5 hours to get from Dbayeh to Beirut because all the tourists wana go shopping at Geant which just so cleverly happens to be RIGHT ON THE FREAKIN HIGHWAY.

Until we can actually host millions of people, we don’t need millions of people coming over. That aside, call it a naive point of view but what about our freakin environment? Hasn’t it suffered enough? The fish in our seas have been breathing and eating our crap (literally) and trash. We go to the beach and swim in the pools because our waters are so polluted. We REALLY do not need to cause any more destruction for the sake of having some dumbass Cedar shaped island off our shore. As you said use that money which apparently some people have to spare, and fix the small glitches in the places. Draw out an equivalent area on a map, in the shape of a Cedar if you really have to, and turn it into what you want that place to look like, and im guessing the least it would have is paved roads, and electricty.

Once again, here’s an example of how shalow and superficial we are. This is so sad. I can’t help but notice that most Lebanese people love to show Europeans how cool and “western” we are, like; we have Solidere and Skybar, we all have cars, even Starbucks has a valet parking, we all have maids, we invented the V.V.I.P concept, etc. – and I don’t think they realise that Europeans aren’t really impressed by all that crap.

And now we’ll be like; “Hey, check out our new Cedar Island, it’s cool right? What…uh? No, we don’t have any actual Cedars anymore, but look there’s a V.V.V.V.I.P pool on that island, that’s way cooler than the actual cedar tree. The chaise-longues are made out of cedar wood though”.

I really like this subject, so i’m back – i went on that Cedar Island website – it looks very nice, but still not convinced of its usefulness. So i left them a message inspired by today’s post:

Greetings,

I was wondering “why the Cedar Island?” For starters, it looks like we are copying Dubai. Then, it will be an enviromental disaster and finally we have ENOUGH infrastructure for the rich Lebanese.

Considering that most of the Lebanese population is non-rich, how about investing that cash into a Metro (under – or overground railway system). It will be very useful for the majority of Lebanese, it will contribute to reduce car pollution in the country and it still creates a lot of jobs.

You can do this project jointly with the Government and you will be 1) more popular, 2) more respected 3) and you’ll still make a lot of money. I just feel that this Cedar project is just another useless idea which will not contribute in making Lebanon any better. If you are targeting the 10 million Lebanese living abroad, you’re better off offering them a decent public transport network (like the one they have in their respective countries of residence) which will allow them to feel that their home country is spending its money wisely.

Well i passed by the corniche yesterday and for the first time since i actually came back, passed by the St Georges. That place looked really sad. Whatever happened to it? They were not able to take action against Solidere, or were the owners not right to begin with?

You know, the impact on marine life might not be as big as you think it is. You should consider reviewing the procedures and techniques that they did regarding the marine life for the Dubai Palm Island. Sadly enough I cannot post them here because I have them on a documentary.